Peter Adams

Do you have the GSD gene? Then this episode of Ecosystem, Scale! is for you. In Episode 8, world-class ecosystem-builder Jess Edwards breaks down how the real magic isn’t just execution — it’s turning goodwill, relationships, and momentum into sustainable infrastructure that outlives any single program or initiative. If you’ve ever wondered how to move from hustle to systems… from activity to architecture… from “one more program” to lasting impact — this conversation is a foundational guide. 🎧 Give it a listen, and if it resonates, pass it along to someone else you know who carries the GSD gene. https://lnkd.in/duRG5P8d Because ecosystems don’t scale on effort alone — they scale on what we build that lasts. Apple: https://lnkd.in/eS389tsK Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eVPEzzuB Melanie (Akwule) Nnogo, MBA, Anastasia Jackson, Isabel Wen, Next Economy MBA, Mitch Smith, Sean R Reid, Jason See, Jess O'Brien, Josh Heller, Gary Livingston, Elizabeth Brigham , Lavonya Jones, Demetria A. Gallagher, Anand Macherla, Jenny Tacka, Bernita Platt, MBA, Tony Kershaw, Jeannine Briggman Rogers

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Lunch and learns in the AE space could be the root cause for both diabetes (sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies) and the lack of innovation. It’s amazing how many Architects and Engineers will spend their lunch hour for a free $15 lunch but have spent zero time learning AI tools. Firm leaders…there is no free lunch and you are building the wrong culture by allowing them.

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Great things happened in the Techstars network in June: →  83 new investments →  8 portfolio companies secured funding →  1 portfolio companies were acquired →  3 Founder Catalyst programs have opened applications ➕Kumulus Water (Techstars 2022) raises €3.1M for atmospheric water generators that turn air into water. ➕Lendorse raises €1.7M to offer income-based financing for international students. ➕Poppy Flowers (Techstars 2020) raises $1.7M to build on its floral business. ➕NeedEnergy (Techstars'23) (Techstars 2023) secures funding for clean-energy sector. ➕Alva Health Inc. (Techstars 2021) gets $500K NSF Grant to advance real-time stroke detection wearable. ➕Wibo (Techstars 2023) secures €500K to scale its corporate learning startup. ➕CubeNexus Inc (Techstars 2024) raises $650K in pre-seed funding. ➕Serve First CX (Techstars 2024) secures £4.6M to expand its AI-driven customer experience offering. https://lnkd.in/gqskDqtv

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Too many founders still buy into outdated financing myths like waiting on SBA loans that won’t come, refusing to lease equipment, or avoiding debt like it’s toxic. The truth? Smart businesses use capital to move faster. Debt isn’t the enemy. Waiting too long to scale is. Don’t let pride in bootstrapping hold you back when the market’s moving. Financial literacy is as critical as your product. Know your numbers, challenge the myths, and grow with intention. #SmallBizFinance #FoundersMindset #Entrepreneurship

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Enjoyed this conversation with my friend and mentor, John Tedesco, at MESA. We tried to cover what has been 30+ years of adjustment and iteration. We aspire to bring some of these lessons from mistakes and pivots over the years to our work with entrepreneurs through Mairs & Power Venture Capital where we have invested in 20 tech and tech-enabled firms across the Upper Midwest since 2022. We partner for the long haul because overnight success is a myth.  If you don't know MESA, the organization offers free mentoring of emerging software companies (and MPVC is a sponsor / supporter). Some of the most successful tech companies in the Twin Cities have benefitted from MESA mentors.   https://lnkd.in/gK6FfNxj #operatinginreality

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**Building Community in Venture: A New Pathway to Growth** Nothing's strategy to engage its community for a $5M raise exemplifies a transformative trend in venture capital. By offering shares at a Series C valuation of $1.3 billion, they are not just raising funds; they’re creating a deeper connection with their consumer base. At ElevenX Capital, we see this as a model that could redefine how startups approach funding—prioritizing community engagement over traditional investor relationships. How do you envision community-driven funding shaping the future of venture capital? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Check back if you missed it! The world is changing around us and it makes sense to own a piece of it. Remember we have two entry points into deep tech: 1) go direct into the CR Fund 2) write a small check into AIM Company *Must be accredited. Sorry, government rules, not mine.

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"My favorite CEO comes in, and the first ten minutes of the meeting is actually psychotherapy." We are excited to welcome Paul Martino, Managing Partner at Bullpen Capital, for Episode 2 of Charting the Course. A nine-time founder and veteran investor, Paul brings a unique perspective on the "post-seed" gap—backing founders who build in categories and geographies that others often ignore. To Paul, being misunderstood isn't an obstacle; it's often an early signal of opportunity. Full episode drops this Friday - follow to be notified. #ChartingTheCourse #VC #Startups

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Ecosystem support can accelerate a climate startup by years. Being selected for Google’s AI for Startups program and receiving an ACT Grant provided RenewCred with more than capital—it provided validation, mentorship, and technical resources. The ACT Grant specifically enabled us to build our DMRV (Digital Measurement, Reporting, Verification) platform for four key use cases: EV fleets, solar energy, biochar, and compressed biogas. From August to December, we’re launching one DMRV per month—momentum made possible by strategic ecosystem partnerships. For founders: seek programs that align with your mission and stage. The right support unlocks velocity. Listen to the full conversation on Breakout Podcast: https://lnkd.in/ef7ivfTx

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Most founders treat warm intros like a nice-to-have. They think if the deck is strong enough, the right investor will notice. They’re wrong. Investors don’t have a filtering problem. They have a trust problem. Every week, they see hundreds of decks. Some great. Many decent. A few even brilliant. But that’s not the bar. The real question isn’t “Is this startup promising?” It’s “Do I trust this founder enough to take the call, stake my reputation, and possibly invest?” That’s what a warm intro solves. It reduces the trust gap. When a credible founder, respected operator, or trusted LP vouches for you, you’re no longer a stranger in someone’s inbox—you’re a filtered signal from someone they already believe in. • Without that credibility transfer, the burden of proof falls entirely on your deck. And no matter how strong it is, most investors won’t roll the dice if no one is standing behind it. But here’s the part most people miss: You don’t get warm intros. You earn them-long before you need them. Because warm intros aren’t just about access. They’re about shared experience, long-game relationships, and quiet reputational equity. The founders who raise well are the ones who tend the garden: They help others before asking for help. They’re kind when no one’s watching. They make time for feedback, referrals, second looks. They show up generously—and consistently. Fundraising isn’t a visibility game. It’s a credibility game. And credibility isn’t built in the room. It’s built over time. This post is a primer on that blind spot: What warm intros actually signal to investors. Why founder-to-founder intros beat cold outreach every time. How to turn a “no” into long-term trust. Why using brokers or “fundraising middlemen” almost always backfires. How to build a reputation that makes capital feel like a shared bet—not a leap of faith. If you want to raise smarter-and faster-understand this: Warm intros aren’t about playing favorites. They’re about reducing friction in a world where trust is scarce and time is shorter. And the best time to start building trust? Before you need it. #startups #fundraising #venturecapital #warmintros #founderlife #networking #trustdriven

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Yesterday, after 22 development sessions and 9 progressive mint attempts, we minted the first Self-Sovereign Entity Identifier (SEID) on Cardano mainnet. Transaction: 1d6a4590a426321d481a88abb1173c78b6b2170076a395fc7144614c5ef099d0 That's not just a hash. That's the first proof that a cooperative organization can steward its own identity on a public blockchain — without asking permission from a corporation, a government, or a platform. Here's what makes SEID different from every other decentralized identity system I've studied: It's entity-first, not person-first. Most DID systems assume the primary identity holder is a human being. SEID starts with the organization — the DACO (Decentralized Autonomous Cooperative Organization). Our first mint was did:c3:4dtSvpKb3f7K7kckSGSn4mwiks6VULCwyxiHiDn3:@D — the @D means this is a DACO identity, not a person. People come later, by choice, with biometrics they control. It's soulbound. This isn't a tradeable NFT. It's a CIP-68 soulbound token minted via PlutusV3 smart contracts on Cardano. You can't sell your identity. You can't transfer your reputation. Your SEID is yours — permanently linked to your sovereign vault, your credentials, and your cooperative participation history. It uses BLAKE2b-512 hashing with Base58 encoding — and it's quantum-ready now. The identifier itself is derived from cryptographic primitives, not assigned by a registrar. No central authority decides who gets an identity. The math does. While quantum computing threatens the asymmetric cryptography (RSA, elliptic curves) that most identity systems depend on, BLAKE2b-512 maintains 256-bit security even against quantum attacks. Grover's algorithm halves effective hash strength — so our 512-bit output still delivers 256 bits of post-quantum security. Most DID systems will need emergency upgrades when quantum hardware matures. SEID was built for that world from day one. We built this on Cloudflare Workers talking to Cardano via Blaze SDK and Blockfrost — no centralized backend, no database you need to trust. The smart contracts are open, the policy is parameterized, and the reference scripts are deployed as CIP-33 on-chain references. This is Day 1 of a 10-day series on what the C3 Alliance built differently. Tomorrow: why every cooperative eventually fails — and how three-faction governance prevents it. → C3-Alliance.org #C3Alliance #Cardano #SelfSovereign #DID #Web3 #CooperativeEconomics #SEID #PlutusV3 #ForkToFlourish

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This trend will start to rise in 2026 within venture studios. Sarah Adams Anderson(Founding Partner at Vault Fund) described it as “concept creation.” Watch the video for an example of what concept creation would look like. (It’s a leaner approach that delivers speed without sacrificing ambition.) For the full conversation with Sarah to learn more about this emerging model of concept-first company building, search for Beyond The Core on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.

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The Governing Objective In recent months there has been a proliferation of "prescriptions" for certain aspects of business that are in need of a fix due to a variety of rapidly moving changes. One arena of this call to action for change/improvement is in the world of corporate governance. While there are many different angles taken the overall theme is movement in the direction of boards moving past "compliance only" activity toward other important issues due to rapid technological changes, geopolitical unrest, volatile domestic politics. Buried somewhere in all of this is an attempt to improve boards vis a vis their actual role in the company's performance which is something I have been arguing for over two decades. As noted these improvement prescriptions come in all flavors including improved board evaluations, better dynamics among board members, new governance codes (and calls for still more new codes), new processes, populating boards with AI and Cyber experts and more general improvement in director selection. What all of these prescriptions, regardless of their merit, miss is what should be the starting point of any corporate governance transformation: The Primary Governing Objective. Without a clear and proper identification of and commitment to, a robust business oriented governing objective, context is lacking for any real improvement. As simple as it sounds, it is like trying to plan for a trip with no exact destination in mind. Public company boards, and others, will continue to be undervalued and thus, underperforming, assets until a full potential development (of the company) governing objective is developed. #governnacearbitrage #corporategovernance #boardsofdirectors #valuecreation #performance https://lnkd.in/gmfU3GVt

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Another missive from Chuck Cotter and Daniel Faierman. Thanks guys for continuing to help to ecosystem. If you've not seen their posts, peek at https://lnkd.in/gPiu9Z4z. Topics include: · CPG Co-Manufacturing Contracts · Early Stage VC Terms to Rarely Accept · More Dividends (and Dividend Recaps?) · 5 Raises, 5 Takeaways · A Founder's Guide to Secondaries · Standing Out Pre-Traction · The State of VC · Corporate Governance 101 · Anti-Dilution Provisions · Primer on QSBS · 4 Fund Raising DON'Ts · Liquidation Preferences · Understanding SAFEs · Understanding Convertible Notes · Understanding Prorata Rights · Founders & Athletes · Employee Stock Options Demystified · The Art of Start-Up Valuation · What Is A Term Sheet Anyway? Check it out ...

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When it comes to selling your business, what role do patents really play? In this podcast clip, Kurt shares why patents are often underestimated and how they can make a real difference to buyer confidence and valuation. It raises an important question: are business owners thinking about IP early enough in their journey, or only when it’s too late? 👉 We’ll share the full podcast in the comments.

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No Curiosity = No Progress If you're serious about raising money, you need to hear from these veteran VCs. Here's how to do it: - Understand your audience: What are they looking for? How do you help VCs achieve their goals? - Ask better questions: The best way to engage your audience. - Contemplate vs react: Take the time to think about the feedback you're getting, rather than reacting defensively. Join us for this session and get the inside track.

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🚀 Meet PACT, simplifying SBA-backed acquisitions with investors. Think YC’s SAFE, but built for Main Street M&A. 📘 What is PACT and why we built it PACT (Partnership Acquisition Commonsense Terms) is a free, balanced starting point for the agreements used in SBA-backed acquisitions with outside investors. For too long, SBA-backed acquisitions with outside investors have been the wild west: every deal is different, inefficient, and confusing, especially for first-time searchers raising capital. PACT gives everyone a common baseline so reviews are faster, expectations are clear, and operators can focus on acquiring the business. 🧩 SAFE for ETA Y Combinator’s SAFE gave startups a shared template that made early investing easier to execute. PACT brings that same idea to ETA. It teaches the key concepts in plain English, aligns searchers and investors on the economics, and sets a fair place to start. Our goal is for PACT to become the default baseline for investor-backed small business acquisitions using SBA loans. 🤝 Who contributed 🏛️ Legal input from top SMB M&A attorneys: Joseph Spina (Cullen and Dykman LLP), Mark Dittrich (Groundswell Advisors, LLP), and Eric Hsu (Clear Focus Law, PLLC) provided feedback on drafts. 💼 Early investor adopters: Jordan F. (Shareholder Ventures), Grant Hensel (Entrepreneurial Capital), Jason Ehrlich (Fruition Capital), Sean Smith (Search Fund Ventures), Adam Kaplan (ETA Funding Partners), Jacob Hall (Kando Capital), Tony Cappaert (Workbench Capital) and Adam Markley (PROX Search Capital) have adopted PACT on new deals. 🎓 Community support: Chelsea Wood and Walker Deibel at the Acquisition Lab and Buy Then Build have committed to start educating the community on how investor deals work using PACT. 👉 What to do next 🔍 Searchers: download the docs and ask your lawyer to start from PACT. ⚖️ SMB M&A Law firms: review the templates and send feedback so the next version is better. 💸 SMB investors: adopt PACT as your starting point and share redlines from real deals. This is a community-led standard, and we will keep versioning PACT as feedback comes in from all sides. 📝 Thanks: Special thanks to Joseph Spina for leading the legal drafting with me and helping shape a true middle ground. 🔗 Download PACT and see the key terms: ETAPACT.com (link in the comments) Let’s make investor-backed acquisitions clearer, faster, and fairer for everyone. 🚨 DISCLAIMER: PACT is not legal advice. Searchers must engage experienced SMB M&A counsel to review and tailor these documents to their deal.

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𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞? For most accredited investors I talk to, the answer is a spreadsheet, a folder of PDFs, and an email chain with an attorney. The SAFE is in one place, the convertible note in another, the cap-table update buried in an inbox. When a founder needs a signature, it takes a week to find the right document. When a CPA needs year-end valuations, the reconstruction is manual. Public markets solved this forty years ago. Every position has an identifier, every statement is a single pane of glass. Private markets never got there. The asset class that’s supposed to be the most sophisticated is running on the least infrastructure. The angels and family offices I talk to don’t want another app. They want the one thing public markets have always had and private markets never did — a real system of record. One place where every company, every position, every agreement, every valuation lives together, with an audit trail that holds up to an LP, a CPA, or an auditor. That’s the direction we’re building toward at Gilon: private assets deserve the same operational backbone public assets already have. See how we’re approaching it at 𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐧.𝐮𝐬.

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